RWBY: Angel of Death
by YogurtLord
Summary: There are many kinds of monsters in the world of Remnant. Some are known to the world as the Grimm. Some work in the shadows and hide behind a friendly face. Both spread nothing but death and pain. Both deserve nothing but to die. That is role of the Angel of Death. To bring judgment upon these monsters. That is the role of the Reaper.
1. Prologue

**AN: So this is the start of a new story set in the RWBY universe! Yaaaay. Anywho this is my first attempt at writing in a looong time and I also am not _suuuper_ knowledgeable on the RWBY universe so I hope you can forgive me so mistakes here and there. Hope you enjoy it! **

Prologue

The quite summer breeze and the growls of a pack of Beowulf were the only sounds Emily could hear as she sat up in the branches of a large tree chuckling to herself. She leaned back against the trunk and lifted the hefty pouch of Lien she had just been paid.

Emily chuckled again as she looked up at the moon. "Just another day in the life a huntress," she mumbled to herself, "never a dull moment. I wonder if if maybe I should've asked for more?"

She sighed lowering the bag and tying it to her belt. No use pondering on that now. She shuffled around a bit trying to get as comfortable as she could on the branch. She had a long journey ahead of her so she needed her rest. Once she was comfortable and was sure she wasn't going to fall out of her perch, she closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep.

A rustling in on of the trees near her caught her attention just before she drifted off. Thankfully she'd been able to keep herself from jolting, still giving the outward appearance of sleeping. Next, Emily activated her semblance which heightened her senses well beyond was what normal even for a lot of faunus.

Concentrating her hearing, she could hear someone moving about two trees to her left. Given how close the trees were, it was a wonder she couldn't smell them. She started to concentrate even harder, trying to get their exact location before she sprung up and gunned them down with her weapon, Swift Judgment.

"I've found you, huntress."

The voice was barely above a whisper even with her enhanced hearing but it was enough to make her jump up immediately, he hand went to her hip to draw her weapon but a loud boom and a sudden hard impact flung her from her perch and knocked Swift Judgment from her hand. The weapon was flung off into the distance and Emily fell to the ground, crashing through branches before hitting the ground with a loud "SMACK". She'd have screamed out in pain but all of the air had left her lungs.

She could feel that her assailants bullet had ripped straight through her aura and made a large hole through her stomach. Some of Emily's ribs had almost definitely cracked upon impact. She began to struggle to her feet, knowing that her attacker wouldn't give her time to recover. Feeling around her belt, she desperately grabbed for her scroll. A few other hunters were in the area. If she were quick they might be able to reach her.

The sound of boots hitting the ground urged her to move faster. She had barely enough time to hit the distress signal before another shot from her attacker sent her to the ground. Luckily she was prepared this time so it didn't penetrate her aura but she was sure the next shot would end her. Still not wanting do give up, she clawed at the ground to crawl away.

A booted foot kicked her in her wound caused her to roll onto her back screaming in agony. She looked up to meet the eyes of her attack. He wore a dark grey hood she covered his entire body. His face was shadowed because of the dark. But her semblance gave her enhanced night vision. With this, she could just make out his cold blue eyes and the skeletal mask that covered the lower half of his face. His eyes screamed his malice and murderous intent toward her.

"Did you think you could hide forever," the hooded man growled. Judging by his voice, h couldn't have been much older than 20. "Did you think you'd get away with what you've done and that not a soul would know?" He brought his gun out from under his cloak and Emily got her first look at the large Hand Canon. It looked big enough to take down an Ursa in a single shot through the head. "No one can hide forever," he continued, "Death has found you. And this time there will be no escape."

A soft click confirmed that he'd pulled back the hammer. "I want these names to be the last on your mind before you die. Listen! Memorize them! Remember what you've done. Razz Glace, Opal Young, and Ebony White. Remember them. And remember. . ." A sudden blast from a gun slammed into her attacker. His aura had been up but it was still enough to knock him back.

"EMILY," a distant voice called. A sigh of relief escaped Emily's lips. It was Port, a professional hunter and professer at the famous Beacon Academy, named after the country they were in. Normally, she would've despised his presence but now was the exception.

The hooded man growled. "NO," he yelled, "I've spent too long track her down for you to ruin this!" He raised his hand cannon and took aim at Port. Emily wanted to call out and warn Port of the power the gun held but could only manage a weak whimper. And then something happened she didn't expect. He lowered his gun and turned on his heel and growled, "I will find you again, Emily. You can be sure of that."

With that he sprinted off into the forest, disappearing into the night. Ports heavy footsteps alert Emily to his presence as he kneeled over her. "Oh no! Hello?! Yes, I need an ambulance! Quickly! We don't have much time!" That was the last thing Emily heard before she lost consciousness."

 **AN: Well there ya go. Just a short few paragraphs to kinda kick things off. In the future. The chapters will be longer and more stuff will go on. Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought and leave suggestions. I'm always open to those. Have a good one.**


	2. Chapter 1- The Reaper

**Chapter 1- The Reaper**

The cafeteria of Beacon Academy was, for once, quiet. Most of the students talked in hushed whispers about the recent attack on a Huntress in the Emerald Forest not far from the School. Rumors had also begun circulating that a Huntsman had been killed in the same area. Some of the whispers were excited, others filled with fear, more still seemed to doubt any of it was true. Who would dare attack a Huntsman so close to the Academy?

That was the question running through Professer Ozpin's mind at the moment. As headmaster of this Academy his first priority was the protection of the students here. If they felt unsafe, then he was failing at his duty. Another thought drifted in the back of his mind, however. What if she was involved? How much could he do if she was? Was this attacker part of her plan to seize hold of the power hidden beneath the school?

Ozpin sighed lightly in frustration. Too many questions and not enough answers. The Huntress that had been attack was still unconscious from undergoing major blood loss and stress all at the same time. When she woke up seemed to be entirely in the hands of the gods themselves.

One way or another, precautions had to be taken however. He stepped up to microphone placed toward the front of the cafeteria. Coughing into it to catch the attention of the gathered students he said, "Hello students! I have brief announcement to make regarding these rumors of an attack on the Huntsman and Huntress in the Emerald Forest." The students stopped their whispering and gave their full attention to the Headmaster. "Yes, a Huntress has been attacked. She was harmed but is still alive, recovering in the hospital. Once she has awoken we will discover the identity of her attacker and put a stop to him." He chose to not mention the presumably murdered Huntsman. Best way to deal with that rumor would be to ignore it until more evidence has been.

"For now, precautionary measures must be taken to ensure your safety. You will be required to be accompanied by your at least one other member of your team when traveling the school grounds at all times. And if you leave campus you MUST bring your entire team along. No exceptions. This attacker is dangerous and if encountered, running should be your first option. Don't attempt to play the hero, children. You could very well loose your life in doing so." There were rustles and frightened whispers coming from the crowd. Time for something to lighten the mood, Ozpin thought.

"In other news, the Vytal Festival will be continuing as planned! Students from the other Academies across the a Four Kingdoms will be arriving within the next week! I hope you will all treat them with the proper respect! Also, make Beacon proud this year! Show us your strength and, by all means, win!" This elicited cheers from the crowd. "That will be all students! Have a wonderful day."

Ozpin sighed again as he exited the cafeteria. He outwardly maintained his calm demeanor but he something inside him told him that something big was coming. Something horrible.

Around the Same Time, at Tukson's Book Shop*

A tan and emerald haired young woman entered the shop along with a pale, gray haired young man. She looked around the quiet, dusty shop. Not a sign of life but she knew their mark was there. The owner of the shop was a member of the White Fang terrorist organization and knew many of their big secrets, along with planned raids and targets in the coming months. Unfortunately, he'd made the mistake of letting skip that he was skipping town too the wrong "friend" and now here they were to tie up loose ends. Emerald smirked and nodded to Mercury to begin searching the shop. He smirked back and began to check around the rows of books for Tukson.

"Hello," Emerald called feigning innocence in her voice, "Is there a Tukson here?" No response. She scowled. Had he somehow heard that they were coming? Not possible. They hadn't told anyone and the White Fang weren't smart enough to be tracking their movements.

The click of a locking door behind them made both Emerald and Mercury. Emerald had both of her dual pistols raised and Mercury took a fighting stance. Standing behind them was a figure clad in a long, gray cloak that covered his whole body. Their back was turned as the figure started to black out all of the windows.

"Who are you," Emerald spat, her fingers on the triggers of her weapons.

"Emerald Sustrai? Mercury Black?" Both did well to hide their shock that this stranger knew who they were. His voice sounded unnatural. It was too deep and raspy. He sounded like his throat hadn't been used in ages. 'Must be using a Voice Modulator,' Emerald thought. The figure turned but because of the dimmed windows and lack of good lighting in the store, they couldn't make out his face.

"Yeah," Mercury responded hesitantly, "And who might you be?"

The stranger didn't grace them with a response. "I'd like to speak to your boss. I have questions for her."

Mercury chuckled lightly, "I don't think she's taking visitors right now. Besides, it's two versus one. I don't think that you're in any position to be making requests. Haven't you ever negotiated before?"

"That wasn't a request. You take me too her, or I'll torture her location out of you and then kill you both. My patience is wearing thin."

"I think we're going to have to pass on your offer buddy. Emerald now!!" Emerald fired a volley of shots toward the stranger but he was faster than either of them had expected. He quickly spun behind a bookshelf, not giving her a second to aim again. Just as she was adjusting her aim to predict where he was going to pop up next, a large BOOM sounded off as a high caliber round sailed through the shelf and right past her head. She dived the side as a mother shot followed the first. That had been awfully close for not being able to see her. She looked over to Mercury and nodded.

Both rushing forward, Emerald leapt into the air firing wildly while Mercury went low to the ground to try and sweep the legs out from him, then Emerald would switch her guns to blade form and finish him off before he had a chance to recover. She wasnt expecting him to leap up behind her toward the ceiling and then, flipping in the air to kick himself from the ceiling, to grab her by the back of her head and slam her into a bookshelf. The book shelf shattered and she felt her brain rattle and her neck ache at the force. Luckily her aura absorbed most of the damage.

Mercury launched himself forward with a hard kick right for the cloaked man's face. With little effort, the man duck under Mercury's leg and leapt up into his crotch region tackling him to the floor and rendering him effectively immobile as he forced Mercury into a split. His hand again drawing his gun from his hip with lightning fast reflexes, he turned and fired the large hand canon at Emerald. She brought her guns up just in time to block the shot but she was knocked off of her feet and both guns were ripped form her hands before bringing the gun to Mercury's forehead.

"Now, where to I find her?" Mercury's brain went into over drive trying to figure. The best way out of this situation. The man was sitting on Mercury's left leg and forcing right up into the air using his body weight, the attacker keeping it pinned on his left shoulder. He hand held a gun to Mercury's head with his left hand and the right. . .wasnt being used. It was still stowed under the cloak. Mercury wonder what else he had to keep it hidden but then a thought occurred to him and he smiled. This guy didn't have a right arm to use.

Jerking his head to the right, Mercury twisted his body to break free enough to throw a right hook toward his assailants head. His suspicions were confirmed when his punch connected and the man did nothing to block it. Now free, Mercury rolled back a ways before rolling on to his feet and dodging a couple of shots from the Cloaked man's hand cannon. Wood shattered as the shots slammed into the wall.

"Emerald," Mercury called, "His right side is his weakness! He doesn't have a right arm!" Emerald laughed and grabbed her guns again, taking a ready stance. Then toward the attacker Mercury said, "So, now that we've figured out your little secret and you've lost the element of surprise, Why don't you tell us your name? We'd like to at least know who we're killing."

The cloaked man still stood stoically and unflinchingly face locked toward Mercury. "I. . ." The man took a step forward. "Am. . ." Another step and then suddenly it seemed he disappeared from view only to reappear right in front of Mercury, gun pressed underneath his chin. "The Reaper." Mercury was now looking directly into the cold blue eyes looking into his with cold indifference. The skeletal half hash covering his mouth and the scar running from the left side of his forehead across to the lower part of his right cheek did nothing but add to his menacing demeanor.

Another surprise turned the tables of the fight again as a roar sounded from behind the counter and the attacker was sent flying through the shops front window with a loud CRASH. A large Faunus that could only be the owner of the book shop, Tukson, emerged from seemingly nowhere. Mercury wasted no time, running over to the window to check for the so called "Reaper" only to find that he had disappeared and that a crowd were starting to make their way toward the scene. "Crap," he muttered. Then turning to Emerald he said, "We need to make this quick. There's a crowd coming. Cinder's gonna want to hear about this."

"Agreed," Emerald said. She rolled her neck to try and get out the stiffness that was forming from being slammed so hard. She then turned to the Faunus. "Uh, Tukson right?"

The large, yellowed eyed man turned toward her, "Yeah that's me. Are you two okay? That dude was pretty nasty. Luck for all of us he didn't notice me hiding in the back. That or he didn't care."

"Yeah, we're fine thanks," Emerald responded with a small laugh, "Good thing he didn't get you actually! We had a couple of questions for you."

"Oh yeah," Tukson replied also with a laugh, "What can I help you with? Looking for a book?"

Emerald and Mercury both took an evil gleam their eyes. "Yeah. Something like that."

Reaper sat on the roof of the book shop observing as Mercury and Emerald exited from the back door and slipped through the alley way to blend into the crowd on the other side. He'd have followed them but he was too tired from using his semblance. It took a lot of energy out of him to even do it once, let alone twice. He laid back and continued to try an breathe calmly to still his racing heart.

The owner had acted exactly at the right moment. Reaper was lucky that his judgment of the man's character had been correct. Though his judgment of the man's strength had been a little off. He'd been counting on being sent reeling but being sent through the window was a surprise. A painful one at that. The book owner hadn't been as lucky however. He was a White a Fang deserter and Reaper knew very well that consequences of such an action.

Removing his scroll from his belt, Reaper checked to see that the tracking device he'd placed on Emerald when he'd slammed her into the bookshelf was working. After confirming that it was, he got to his feet he walked over to the front edge of the book shop where a small crowd was gathered as began to enter the shop. He stood tall at the edge letting his cloak billow in the wind. It only took a moment before someone noticed him and began to point and yell.

Soon, most of the crowd was looking his way and many had pulled out their scrolls. No doubt they were taking pictures and hopefully a couple of recordings. "Perfect," Reaper muttered. The more word that got around of his existence the better. It would brew one of two reactions from his targets, fear or over-confidence. Both reactions would lead to mistakes and when dealing with the Reaper, mistakes meant death.

Drawing his gun, Sterben, he fired it between the feet of a citizen in the front of the crowd. The asphalt shattered and multiple screams rippled through his now captive audience, no one daring to move. The police had come back outside and were aiming their weapons at him. Hefting his gun into the air he shouted at the top of his lungs, "BEHOLD! I AM THE ANGEL OF DEATH! I'M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU! EVERY LAST ONE!" With that he disappeared back over the edge and leapt from rooftop to rooftop until he was far enough a way that he dropped down into an alley.

He retrieved his back pack from behind a large dumpster and removed his cloak and mask, swapping them with a bright red hoodie a black pair of headphones around his neck, and sunglasses. Walking out the alley, he adjusted his dull gray hair to keep it from looking entirely like a mess before hopping onto his bright red motorcycle that had been sitting in a parking spot just outside the alley for a little over an hour. He'd gotten back just in time as the parking meter was getting ready to run out. Revving his engine he started back for his safe house.

It didn't take long before stories of the Angel of Death began to circulate Beacon. Ozpin looked at the pictures and videos that had been posted online and playing on the news. All depicted the grey cloaked man standing on the edge of a building holding his large gun high over his head. Because of his hood, it was difficult too make out any clear facial features other than his skeletal half mask he wore around his face. This matched Port's description of Emily Williams' attacker meaning they were likely the same person.

The news stories had attributed this "Angel of Death" with the seemingly unprovoked murder of a Faunus named Tukson and the Huntsman who also turned up dead in the Emerald Forest. Since the Huntsman was also a Faunus, both had received particularly brutal deaths, and given the Angel's speech, many news outlets had come to the conclusion that he held some sort of hatred toward Faunus and had taken it upon himself to have some sort of "Holy War" against all Faunus.

Ozpin thought differently. He couldn't help but feel that the Angel had another parameter for his targets. He couldn't help but feel a small when he listened back to the speech again. An apparent hatred dripped from every word. "But who is it direct toward? Who is his real enemy? What is his motive?," Ozpin muttered before shutting off his computerin frustration. Yet again he was left with more questions than answers.

 **AN: And there is the next chapter of Angel of Death! I wrote this one pretty quickly since I had nothing to do all day and I feel it turned out pretty good for what it is. Things should start to pick up more as the story progresses. I will be more busy in the coming days though so it'll take me longer to finish each chapter. Which will probably inspire me to put more effort into it. Probably a good thing. Anyways, thanks for reading and look forward to the next chapter soon!**


	3. Chapter 2- Hired

**AN: And here's the next chapter. Just a quick heads up. I don't own RWBY. Like any of it. Show would probably suck if I did so we can all be great full for that. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 2- Hired**

Gray Mejer drained the last of his water before tossing the bottle into the trash. "Man it's bright today," he muttered, glancing toward the sun shining overhead. He pulled his hat a little lower to try and block out the light. In truth, it was no more bright than any other day in Beacon, but two nights without sleep did a number on the sensitivity of one's eyes.

He let out a yawn at the thought of sleep. Gray wished more than anything that he could be home sleeping now but he'd promised his sister that he'd meet her for lunch today. A second year student at Beacon, she often asked Gray to eat with her on her days off. He didn't usually mind. He loved his sister and enjoyed the time he got to spend with her, but today he almost felt like calling it off and getting some much needed sleep. Who knows how much more of that he'd be getting in the next few days.

His mind flicked back to the events of two days previous. It hadn't taken long for his tracking device to be discovered. Surprisingly, instead of destroying his tracking device, they'd chosen to leave it active. At least that's what Gray assumed. It was unlikely that Emerald had decided to just sit in one spot for 24 hours.

Gray had taken it as an invitation and decided to play them a visit that night. He decided to wear normal clothes instead of his usual cloak so he wouldn't have to sneak through the city and across rooftops. Wearing a grey hoodie and some regular blue jeans, he'd made his way to the warehouse on the docks.

Few people payed him any mind as he walked the city streets that night. The few that did look his way, stopped only long enough to look at the knot in his right sleeve just beneath his 5-inch stub where his arm used to be. Gray ignored them. In the 4 years since he'd lost the arm, he'd gotten used to people staring at him.

After an hour of walking, he finally reached the docks. He stopped only for a moment to reach into his backpack and pull out his skeletal half mask, his gun, and a leg holster for the weapon. Once he ensured that Sterben was strapped securely to his left thigh and his mask was snugly fit around his face, he walked onto the dock. For now, he was no longer Gray. He was Reaper, the Angel of Death.

It didn't take long before before he was surrounded by White Fang sentries. Three different spotlights were trained on him preventing him from running to any shadows. The half-animal terrorists all had their firearms trained on him and he knew that fighting would be pointless. If he'd gotten the drop on them then maybe he could've taken them, but fifteen Faunus was a lot for anyone.

"Hands up, Human," one growled at him.

Reaper chuckled raising his hand, "How could you tell? I was sure my hood and mask would keep you guessing for at least a moment."

"Your smell. You human's all have a distinct smell to you."

Reaper shrugged. "Fair enough." He took a small step forward.

Every White Fang member shifted toward him, their fingers going to the triggers of their weapons. "Stop right there. Not an inch further." The make Faunus he assumed was their commander stepped forward. "Move another inch and your dead. Now, why are you here?"

"Your boss invited me." He looked up to the top on one of the stack of shipping crates to see the silhouette of a woman sitting on the edge. "Isn't that right?"

A woman's laugh broke through the night. "You're a bold one aren't you, Reaper?" The woman dropped to the ground with grace and walked toward Reaper, the sound of heels clicking on the asphalt echoing across the dock. She stopped just outside the circle of light cast by the spotlights, keeping her face hidden. "I'm glad you got my invitation."

A buzz in his pocket brought Gray back to the present. He blinked a couple of as he stopped daydreaming. "Didn't realize I was that tired," he mumbled to himself. Digging his scroll out, Gray found the source of the buzzing to be a series of texts from his sister asking him where he was. He cursed quietly as he checked the time to find he was ten minutes late. Luckily the mall wasn't far from where he was.

He set off at a brisk walk and started texting his sister that he was on his way. "Can't believe I zoned out like that," he mumbled to himself, "Alright. First thing after this, I'm taking a-" Gray was cut short as he rounded a corner only to run right into someone. Whoever this person was had also decided to pump their arms into the air for some unknown reason, delivering a solid smack to his chin. Normally, that only would've been enough to make him stumble but given he wasn't ready for it actually knocked him down.

"Ruby," someone called in a mixture of surprise and anger, "Hey! Watch where you're going dude!"

Gray groaned lightly as he rolled over and started pushing himself up ignoring the teenage girl (at least that's what he presumed given her voice, he hadn't actually opened his eyes to look yet.) "Hey," she called angrily, " I think you need to apologize to my-"

"Yang!" This voice definitely sounded younger. He'd place the other voice for a young girl of thirteen to fifteen years old. Finally gaining his footing but still slightly dazed, Gray turned around to find a group of four teenage girls standing in front of him.

Closest to him was a short, pale girl with black and red hair and an embarrassed smile on her face. This was most likely the person who'd uppercut him and probably the owner of the second voice. Just behind her was a girl with bright yellow hair and angry, lavender eyes. Definitely the first voice. Yang if he'd heard right. Standing next to Yang was another Pale girl dressed all in white with white hair. Somehow, she looked familiar to him but he was sure he hadn't met her before. He'd remember someone with that air of superiority about her. Finally there was the girl dressed in black, with black hair and a black bow tied atop her head. Her amber colored eyes seemed to glow a little because of the dark circles forming around her eyes. 'She hasn't gotten much sleep sleep lately,' Gray thought, 'I can relate to that.'

"Uhhhh. Sorry for bumping into you!" The apology from the short girl dressed in red and black snapped him back to attention. 'I've gotta stop spacing out,' Gray thought, 'Someone's going to call the cops on me thinking I'm on something.' He glanced down at the hand she'd stretched out. It was the right one. Not that he'd expected much else. It was the hand most people used.

He opened his mouth to say something but the girl in white beat him to the punch. "Ruby! Be more observant," she snapped pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

The girl he now knew was Ruby opened her eyes to see what she'd done. She started freaking out, and probably unsure of what to do with her hands, started moving them around wildly. "Oh crap! I'm so sorry! I-I-I didn't-"

Gray raised his hand to stop her. "It's fine. Look, sorry for bumping into you but I've got somewhere to be and I'm already late. So if you'll excuse me-" He started again toward the mall. He could hear Yang yell something about being rude but he couldn't care less.

"GRAY!" He heard her voice before he saw her. Standing at the entrance of the mall's outdoor food court was his sister, Sylvia Mejer. Her hair was the same grey his was but because she took care of it, it gave of a more silvery shine. "Why are you so LATE," she asked angrily, "Now I don't have hardly any time left before I have to go back to campus." She folded her arms and gave an exaggerated pouty face.

Gray chuckled lightly. "Sorry sis. Got caught up with something." He pointed his thumb back over his shoulder.

"Oh you mean where you absentmindedly ran into the leader of Team RWBY," she gave him a playful shove. "Yeah, I saw that. You're such an idiot Gray."

"Team RWBY," Gray questioned, "Do you know them?"

"Well, not personally," Sylvia admitted with a hint of disappointment, "but they're one of Beacon's most well known teams. Even if it's for all of the trouble they get into and that they have Weiss Schnee on their team."

"Schnee? As in the dust company?"

"Yup that's the one. She probably buys them all kinds of cool stuff with all that money her family's got." Someone called Sylvia's name from around the corner. Peeking around the corner, she shouted, "Yeah, I'll be there in a sec Jewel!" Then she turned back to Gray, worry forming on her face. "Hey. Are you okay? You look kinda. . .sick."

Gray waved a hand as if to swat away her worries. "Nah, just haven't gotten much sleep the past couple of days. I got a job, finally, but it's been keeping me up late. Only for a couple more days though. Then I'll have a regular sleep schedule."

"You got a job?! That's great!! Hopefully it'll be enough to get you out of that disgusting place you call an apartment! And then- wait!"

"What is it?"

"Is this job going to keep you from coming to watch me in the Vytal festival?"

"Not a chance. In fact this job is going to require me to be there." Sylvia gave a wide smile.

"Good!" He smile went from wide to smug. "My team and I are going to kick butt this year so you'd better be there.

"I hope so," Gray laughed, "Or else these past two years of training will have been for nothing!"

"Hey!" Sylvia gave him a playful punch in the arm. "What is this job anyways?"

"It's a surprise. You'll see soon enough."

Sylvia gave a small sigh. "Fiiine. As long as you'll be at the festival." Another call for Sylvia came from around the corner.

"Go. Don't keep your friends waiting."

"Ok. I'll see you later I guess. DON'T be late next time." She pointed an accusing fingers at him with mock sternness.

"I promise I won't."

"Good," she said curtly. She turned to leave but stopped. Without turning she said, "Get some sleep. You look awful." With that she disappeared around the corner.

Gray sighed. He wished he'd had a little more time with her but at the same time, she was right. He needed sleep. If he wasn't rested then his job was going to be that much harder. His mind drifted back to couple of nights ago and his meeting with his new team.

"I want in," he'd said, still surrounded by White Fang.

There was a small laugh from the woman he was talking. "Want in? What ever are you talking about," she replied in a sultry tone.

"I have it on good authority that Haven Academy sent three students nobody really knew to participate in the Vytal Fesitval this year. After a little asking around, I'm pretty sure that two of those "mystery students" are Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. Both of whom are probably here now. I know you've infiltrated Beacon Academy and I know you're planning something big."

The woman gave a slow, almost sarcastic clap. "Very good." Her tone maintained a strong, sensual overtone. "I can see you've done your homework." The woman finally stepped into the light read along herself. She had long, somewhat curly black hair, and was dressed in a crimson, shoulder less dress with a yellow design sewn beneath her neck line and down each sleeve. Her lips were curled in a smirk that matched her sensual tone and her amber eyes gave off the same message. "The question is, why would The Reaper, the so called Angel of Death, want to join us?"

Reaper grinned beneath his mask. It was a wicked smile and anyone who looked into his eyes would've seen the sick pleasure that shone in them as fantasies of achieving his goal flashed through his mind.

"It's simple," he replied, "I want to see Ozpin hurt and suffer. And then I wanna kill him."

 **AN: Chapter 2, done. Hope you liked it. Feel free to leave a review with whatever you wanna say. If you have any suggestions on where to take the story, feel free to leave them in a review or PM me. I have an idea of where I want this to go but I'm always open to suggestions. Have a good one!**


	4. Chapter 3- Burn

**AN: I still don't own RWBY in case anybody was wondering. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 3-Burn**

Emily Williams looked out the window of her small infirmary room with a sigh. It was a cozy little room. It simply held her hospital styled bed, a small tv mounted on the wall opposite of her. To her right sat a small table with flowers and cards sitting on it.a couple of chairs also sat in the corner for visitors. Not that Emily could make much of it out in detail. The only light in her room was the small bit of moonlight spilling through through the open window.

She'd woken up about four hours ago and upon learning that she was in the Beacon Academy infirmary, she had immediately demand to see Professor Ozpin. The nurses had said that they were going to call him but after four hours and not a word, Emily was beginning to have doubts.

So now she sat impatiently in her bed, contemplating whether or not she should just get up and leave to find Ozpin herself. A sharp pain in her side reminded her of why she didn't. The hole that her attacker had blasted through her still had yet to completely heal, even with her aura assisted healing. Apparently she'd been pretty close to going beyond the point of no return a few times during her treatment. Her injuries along with a lot of blood loss had led to extreme aura exhaustion and no one was sure if she'd pull through.

She shuddered slightly as the events of that night played back in her head. The image of Reaper's cold, unfeeling eyes staring down at her still unnerved her. HE had know. His last words to her before she fell unconscious played in her mind. "I will find you again, Emily. You can be sure of that." Emily knew that he meant it. He had something against her, something very personal.

She began to wrack her brain and try to figure out what it was. She reached over to the table and flicked on her lamp. She then reached toward the small notebook and pen sitting underneath it, knocking over a couple of card in the process. Opening to a blank page, she wrote three names and left some space underneath each one for notes. She muttered each name as she wrote. "Razz Glace. . .Opal Young. . .Ebony White." The Huntress stared at the name for a moment to try and find any spark of familiarity.

After determining that she couldn't remember, she grabbed her scroll and set to work researching. It didn't take her long. Her eyes widened in shock as she scrolled through news articles detailing the brutal murders of three students from Haven Academy. She hadn't known their names but their faces had burned into her memory for the past four years. She remembered their screams of pain as they were mercilessly slaughtered. She remembered the look of sheer terror on the girl she now knew as Opal Young's face as Emily abandoned them to their fate.

Her hands started to shake and vomit threatened to work its way up her throat. For the past four years she's tried to forget those faces, or even to remember the happier versions of them she's been originally introduced too, but no matter what she's tried the terror in their eyes still haunted her. The confusion as she ran, leaving them to their end.

Then she remembered something. "Four," she whispered shakily, "there were four of them. Three girls and a boy." She looked back to her scroll and started to search for the missing boy. Then she saw the picture. A picture of a sad looking 17 year old boy with short, dull gray hair. Underneath the picture was a name. Gray Mejer. She gave a shaky laugh in triumph. She knew! She knew who the Reaper was!

She closed out the articles on the scroll and tried to call Ozpin. This couldn't wait. He needed to know now.

Emily cursed as the scroll showed a no service error. How could there be no service! They were right in the middle of Beacon. Frustrated, she threw her blankets off and swung her legs over the bed. She winced in pain as her wound burned and stumbled a little bit as pain shot through her side with each step. It didn't matter. She had to tell someone, not matter the cost. Even if it killed her!

"Have you remembered?" Emily froze. She knew that voice.

"Yes," she replied as calmly as she could manage. She thought about screaming for a moment but knew that it wouldn't help her. She'd be dead before anyone could get through the door. She turned slowly to face Reaper. He stood in front of the window, the pale moonlight silhouetting him. "And I know who you are, Gray." She looked for any sign of a reaction but couldn't find one in his dark figure

"Good. Then you remember what you did?" His voice was even and hollow, nothing like the hate filled voice he'd used when they last met. It unnerved Emily all the more.

"Yes. I've never forgotten what happened."

"Neither have I, Emily." He took. A slow step forward. Emily instinctively backed away. "I've never forgiven you for that." His voice seemed to come from every angle of the room.

Emily continued to back away slowly, she knew she couldn't fight him but if she got through the door then she'd be safe. "It-it had-" she studdered.

"Had to WHAT," Reaper snapped causing Emily to freeze in place. "It had to be done? The mission was more important? Razz, Opal, and Ebony all had to die for some greater good?" He took another menacing step forward. "Tell me Emily. Tell me that information was that valuable. Tell me that when you relayed it to Ozpin you were stricken with grief because of the sacrifice of these young children but that you KNEW that this information would be valuable."

Emily began to tremble. "I-I-I. . ."

Reaper cut her off again. "You can't. You can't tell me any of that Emily because I know that it would be nothing but lies. I know that you left us merely because you deemed the operation a failure and wanted to save your own skin." He took another step. "I've been watching you for a long time. I know that you knew from the very start that we weren't goin to succeed. But you wanted out. You wanted out of Ozpin's little game and were willing to do whatever it took to get your excuse."

"Wait," the huntress called our shakily stretching her hand out in front of her. "Don't you want to know what it was all about? Don't you want to know what your friends died for?" Reaper paused. A small smile of triumph danced across Emily's face. She had her way out. "I can tell you everything. Things you never could have imagined."

There was a small silence. Then Reaper laughed. The laugh had a small twinge of lunacy. It was barely evident but Emily had dealt with it enough to recognize it and it scared her more than anything else about Reaper.

"How predictable." He practically spat the last word. There was a pause as he took another couple of steps. Emily could see his cloak shift as he produced a large combat knife. The moonlight danced across the and caused Emily's blood to run cold. "If you'd said the same thing a year ago, then I might've been inclined to listen to you. But now. . ."

Emily didn't give him a chance to finish. She wheeled around and lunged for the door. He side screamed at her in protest to the quick movement but she ignored it. She had to get away. She couldn't be here a second longer. As she lunged she stretched out her hand to grab the handle.

Her fingertips just barely graze the surface of the cool metal before her face smashed into some rough, wool like material. She gasped sharply as she felt the cool presence of steel sliding between her ribs. Reaper leaned in close and whispered in her ear with a small giggle, "I don't care anymore. I just want you dead."

Emily fell back in shock and pain. Her sight began to go in and out of focus as she looked toward the Angel of Death. He walked over to her and knelt down next to her. Now illuminated by the same moonlight that had kept his face shadowed moments, Emily could see his cold blue eyes. They stared into hers without a hint of remorse. She tried desperately to cry for help, to scream, but all she could manage were pitiful whimpers. She choked and sputtered blood as the blade stabbed into her gut.

"Suffer, Emily. Die slowly for me." Another stab to the shoulder. Emily was paralyzed with pain. Her consciousness was beginning to fade and she began to shiver uncontrollably.

"Awwww," Reaper said with false concern, "you look so cold! Don't worry. I have something that will warm you right up." He dangled a pouch in front of her eyes. "A little fire dust I keep handy for just such occasions. Emily's eyes widened in horror. He sprinkled the dust along her wounds causing them to sear with agony. He stood up and walked over to the door. Reaper set to work dragging everything he could in the room and dragging it in front of the door before snapping off the handle.

Satisfied, Reaper turned and looked down at Emily. He took a lighter and lit it. Emily's chocked sobs were the only sound that could be heard. "Burn." With that Reaper dropped the lighter on her and she burst into flame. He chocked, gurgling screams rang out into the night. She couldn't see anything but the all consuming flames.

The four members of team RWBY, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna, and Weiss Schnee, all lay in their beds in silence, shocked by the events that had just transpired. Three hours previous, a mysterious fire had started in one of the patients rooms in the school infirmary. It had been caught quickly, when a nurse noticed the smell of smoke moments before the fire alarm went off. All attempts to enter the room had proved unsuccessful however as it had been barricaded shut.

Finally, the Fire Department had arrived and managed to break into the room. Too late however as they found the burnt and brutalized corpse of the huntress Emily Williams. The unfortunate team RWBY had been in the infirmary visiting a classmate at the time. They had seen the body. It wasn't something they would soon forget.

Ruby was taking it the worst of all. She knew that bad people existed in the world. She had gone toe-to-toe with the criminal after all. Ruby just never had experienced something so. . . . . .visceral. It shook her to the very core to see the charred remains, a scream still etched onto what little remained of Emily's face. Tears began to flow from her eyes.

"Why," she sobbed quietly, "Why would someone do something like that?" She continued to cry, unable to hold it back any longer. Yang got down from the top bunk of the bunk beds she shared with Blake. bed and pulled Ruby down off of her bed. She sat on the floor and just hugged her crying sister. "How could anyone be so evil, Yang?" She didn't have an answer to her sister's question.

After a long silence Blake finally spoke. "Do you think it was that Angel of Death guy? The one from the news?"

"Whoever it was," Yang growled in response, "they need to pay for this. No one murders someone in cold blood and gets away with it, especially not on the ground of OUR school." Yang let go of her sister and stood and made towards the door.

"And where exactly to you think you're going," Weiss asked.

"Out," was Yang's curt reply.

"Out where? To stop the bad guys all by yourself? That's ridiculous!"

Yang turned around, her usually lavender eyes glowed red. "Shut up Weiss!"

"Yang," Blake said worriedly, "Weiss is right. This is something I don't think we can handle."

"So you want me to just sit here and do nothing then," Yang yelled, "People could be dying out there right now! We've got to find this guy!"

"And then what Yang," Weiss retorted, "Add to the list of victims? You heard what the police were saying whoever this guy was managed to break in and out of a hospital room at Beacon Academy without being seen or leaving any sort of trace. This school is one of the most secure places on Remnant! Anybody who can do that wouldn't have a problem killing us!"

"Guys," Ruby whimpered quietly, "Please stop." Yang looked back at her younger sister. It pained her to see her sister like this instead of her usually bubbly self. She sighed and sat back down in the floor.

"Sorry," Yang said with an almost exhausted tone, "not sure what came over me."

"It's alright, Yang," Blake replied, "We all want to do something. We're huntresses after all, and that's our job. But we won't accomplish anything by going out there and getting ourselves killed." She paused for a moment and then laughed lightly. "I think you said something similar earlier today in regards to the dance."

Yang let out a small grin. "Yeah. I guess I did. Thanks Blake."

Ruby took a deep breath in to stop crying before letting as much of a smile as she could muster. "Well, I don't think we'll be getting much sleep tonight," Ruby said cheerily, "Wanna go see what JNPR's up to?"

"I think that's a great idea," Blake said. With that, the four girls got up to go and bother the team across the hall and hopefully get the events of tonight off of their minds.

Gray woke up in a cold sweat on a bathroom floor. It panicked him for a moment to realize that he wasn't in his apartment and then that he was dressed in his Reaper attire. 'Wait,' he thought worriedly, 'Where am I? When did I. . ." Then it all came flooding back to him. The sickening smell of burning flesh still hung lightly on his cloak. The knife, still in his hand, had dried blood caked on it.

"Ohhhh, that's right," Reaper muttered, "I killed her." He laughed menacingly to himself. "That's another one down, Ozpin. Won't be too much longer before I come for you." He began to laugh darkly at the thought of gutting the headmaster.

"Hey, uh, Reaper?"

The voice of Emerald coming through the bathroom door snapped Gray back to himself. "What," he asked sharply.

"Cinder wants to speak you. She said it's pretty important."

Gray sighed, "Fine. Tell her I'll be out in a minute."

"Whatever. Just be quick. She doesn't sound happy."

Gray rolled his eyes and stood. He didn't care wether or not Cinder was happy. In fact, few things were farther from his concern. He took a moment to remove his cloak and mask, leaving him in nothing but the special made black body suit he wore underneath. Looking in the mirror he could see that he was completely drench in sweat and was pretty pale. It was probably due to using his semblance three times within 15 minutes and twice to cover fairly long distances. Teleporting short distances in rapid succession was draining enough as his semblance sapped at his aura each time he used. Covering long distances was especially draining as the amount of aura drained was directly proportional to the distance he covered.

He shrugged. "Guess I'll be more careful next time." He wiped his face before stepping out into his dorm room at Beacon Academy. A very angry Cinder sat on the edge her bed. Her amber eyes seemed to catch fire with anger as he finally came out of the bathroom.

"What, were you THINKING," she snapped. "You could've ruined everything! We could've been found out!"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, we haven't been," he shot back.

"That's not the point! Ozpin is undoubtably on alert now. He definitely will be watching the visiting students all the more closely now!"

"Good! Let him worry! The more he squirms the better."

"You FOOL!" It took everything Cinder had not to shout at the top of her lungs. Flames appeared in her hand. Emerald watched with wide eyes, and got ready for a Cinder to kill Reaper. Mercury was watching out of his peripheral vision while he pretended to keep reading his comic book.

Cinder took a deep breath and then clenched her fist, extinguishing the flame. She reassumed her usually sultry and threatening persona. "Look, Reaper. Our mission is very important to us. If you jeopardize it, I won't hesitate to kill you." She leaned in close. "Understood."

Gray simply scoffed and turned away, not gracing her with an answer. He walked back to the bathroom an scooped his cloak and mask up from the floor before going over to the closest and threw them into his suitcase. He then peeled himself out of his body suit and tossed it in as well, letting the strong smell of sweat fill the room.

Now naked, He grabbed a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. He needed it to wash himself of his night's activities to be sure, but more than anything, he needed to clear his head. Tonight's killing along with his exhaustion form using his semblance and his brief confrontation with a Cinder had left him drained and he starting tomorrow he had to be in top shape.

He had been added to the group infiltrating Beacon as a "coach". He wouldn't participate in any events of the upcoming Vytal a Festival but his job would be to make it seem like he was training his "team" despite only being a couple years olde than them. Well older than Mercury and Emerald at least. He wasn't sure how old Cinder was.

Surprisingly, all it had taken was a call to Haven's headmaster, Professor Lionheart, who Cinder had somehow gotten wrapped around her finger. He'd prepared the necessary paper work and had sent it directly to Ozpin himself. They'd decided that Gray would keep his true identity as he had a sister attending Beacon. It. Hadn't been hard to get their hands on some records for him either as he had been a student at Haven before. . .

Gray could feel sadness trying to creep into him. Like always, he couldn't afford sadness. Sadness only led him to inaction. The only emotions he truly allowed any room in his mind were hatred and anger. Those emotions were motivators. They led him toward his vengeance.

He shook his head lightly. He couldn't focus on those things right now. He had to start getting in character for the coming days. He couldn't afford slipping up. As the warm water from the shower cascaded over his he did his best to shove everything about Reaper deep inside him and let his less used emotions, he reserved for Gray, save for sadness to the surface.

After finishing his shower we walked over to the sink to brush his teeth and brush his hair so as to look presentable for tomorrow. After wiping aside the steam, Gray was a little surprised. The face staring back into his seemed so foreign. It was like seeing someone he knew well but hadn't seen in years. "So this is what Gray really looks like," he muttered to himself. He looked so. . .empty.

 **AN: Chapter 3 down. I've ended up having a lot more time than I originally thought I was going to hence having 3 chapters out so soon. I also do very little in the way of proofreading or editing. Probably by a good thing but oh well.**


	5. Chapter 4- Break

**AN: Nope. I don't own pretty much anything in this story. Here're Chapter 4. Enjoy!**

 **Quick side note: Sorry if the formatting comes out weird. FanFiction keeps messing with the formatting probably due to me posting this from my phone since I don't have and will not have access to a computer for the foreseeable future. Just wanted to apologize in advance.**

 **Chapter 4- Break**

Gray ran through the woods at a breakneck pace. He knew nothing except that he had to run. He didn't know from what or why, only that whatever was behind him couldn't be allowed to catch up to him. He came to a short pause as he reached a fork in the path but the footsteps closing in from behind him gave him no time to make a decision. Sprinting down the left path, he barely even had time to register as the right trail burst into flames.

He kept running as fast he could. The fire quickly spread across the whole forest. The heat caused a searing pain to spread through his body.

"Why do you keep running from us?" The voice caused Gray to slide to a halt. The voiced had seemed to echo from every possible angle.

"Don't you want to see us," a new voice asked.

Gray's eyes widened with recognition.

Gray wheeled as yet another voice laughed, "Your so mean Gray!" Standing on the path just behind him were his old teammates, just as they had always been. Razz stood there with her hands on her hips and a playful smile on her face. The fire seemed to make both her long, bright red hair and sea-green eyes glow. She wore her signature forest green cargo pants, along with a black tank-top and was as tan as always. As a chameleon faunus she'd always been able to maintain a perfect tan with little to no effort. "You already left us behind once," she joked in mock accusation, "and now your trying to do it again!"

Opal spoke next. "Yeah! Look how old you look! You could be my grandpa." She brushed the bangs of her shorter blonde hair out of her face. She was pale and her all white sun dress and the white lily in her hair. She didn't wear shoes as was usual for her. Opal had always hated shoes. Her brown eyes showed the same indignation that she showed toward everyone. "Not that I'd want a dead beat like you for a grandpa." Opal always had been the feisty one of the group.

"Leave the poor guy alone you two." Ebony came to his defense as always. Her curly black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, just like she liked to keep it. Her sky-blue eyes were surrounded by her black rimmed glasses. Black-furred rabbit ears sat atop her head, matching her dark skin. "He's done his best to forget us and we dont have the right to just show up like this!"

A mixture tears of both joy and sorrow began to fall from Gray's eyes. "W-what? Forget you? No! No way I could ever forget you." Gray was pained that she would even assume that. How could she? After all, hadn't the past four years been dedicated to Gray avenging them.

A devilish smile grew on Razz's face. "Don't pretend like this has been for us, Gray."

Gray looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean? Of course it was you! It's always been for you!"

"NO," all three seemed to shout in unison. They began to slowly march toward Gray. "Maybe in the beginning but not now."

"It is," Gray shouted in panic, "I swear it is!" The Fire it self seemed to give a hellish screech. Turning slowly, Gray turned to see Reaper stride through the flames. His face was that of a skeleton and his eyes burned blood red. In his hand was a large scythe, still dripping with blood.

"Prove It Gray," Opal whispered in his ear but something was off. Her voice didn't sound right. Turning back to his teammates, he let out a blood curdling scream. They lay mangled on the forest floor, blood everywhere. Razz's eyes were missing and she was cut in half at the waist. Opal's head was twisted backward and her intestines hung out from a large gash in her gut. Ebony face was nothing but a bloody pulp and a large hole in her chest showed where a large foot had been shoved into her rib cage.

"Join us." All three of their voices rang in his head.

Gray sunk to his knees and screamed, clutching his face in his hand. "NOOOOOOOOOO! STOP! PLEASE!" He wanted to block it all out. The horrible images of his friends. The sound of their voices. All of it.

A swift kick to his back pushed him to the ground. Gray coughed as the air left his lungs but an instinctive roll saved him from being impaled on the Reaper's wicked blade. "Let me out Gray." Reaper's voice was low and demonic. "Let me out and it will all stop. No more pain. No more suffering." Reaper heft the handle of the scythe onto his shoulder. "Only blood. The blood of those we hate and any who stand in our way." Gray felt the fear begin to dissipate as he looked into Reapers eyes. It was replaced with a new feeling. A strange warmth. Was it. . .happiness?

"Yes," he muttered, "it will all stop if we kill them! That's it!" A small cackle slipped through his lips.

"That is right," Reaper said with excitement, "You need only release me from within you as you can be free!"

Gray smiled. He longed for freedom from this hell. "Then be-"

A loud banging wrenched Gray from his nightmare. Instinctively, he rolled out of his bed and landed on the floor with a loud THUD, aiming Sterben toward the noise.

Gray, it's Mercury and Emerald." Gray took a deep, shaky breath. It was just a dream. He wasn't trapped in some forest but was in his guest room at Beacon Academy. The same place he'd been in for a week and a half now.

"One sec," he yelled gruffly. His voice had a slight quiver to it.

He let out a small groan as he rolled over and pushed himself off of the floor. Tossing Sterben onto his bed he reached could feel that his hand was still trembling. A shiver ran down his spine as the horrific scenes he'd experienced flashed through his mind once again. A few slow breaths helped to ease his nerves.

After a quick moment spent throwing on a black t-shirt and some light gray sweatpants, he opened his door to see an annoyed looking Emerald standing directly in front of his door and a rather disinterested looking Mercury leaned against the opposite wall. "What do you want," Gray asked bluntly. He wasn't in the mood to deal with either of these two.

"What do you mean what do WE want," Emerald shot back, "You're the one that scheduled the training room for us this early." She folded her arms and a semi hidden scowl appeared in her face. "I don't know why you even bothered. It's not like, we need any training nor does this help our plan."

Gray sighed as he turned back to grab his shoes. He decided to leave Sterben where it was. Best not to carry anything that might make him stand out to people who'd caught a glimpse of Reaper. "It's about keeping up appearances," he called over his shoulder as he pulled on his shoes.

Walking out of his door he continued, "Frankly, I couldn't care less about your plan. I'm only here to do whatever dirty work Cinder needs me to do while I gather information for my own ends. If we get found out, both our plans go down the drain. And I don't think you can afford any more mistakes after that fiasco with Torchwick a few days back."

Emerald's scowl became more apparent at the mention of the criminal a Roman Torchwick but she held her tongue as they walked to the training room. Gray was referring to his near defeat at the hands of four students from Beacon Academy nearly a week ago. While holding a White Fan recruitment meeting, Torchwick discovered that they'd been infiltrated by spies and took to hunting them down, even going so far as to show off the stolen prototype Paladin mech suit to the world by chasing them down a busy highway causing untold destruction and bringing undue media and police attention to the White Fang.

Torchwick then proceeded to engage and lose to the spy and her team who all turned out to be the four first-year students of Beacon who made up Team RWBY, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. Luckily, Reapers murder of Emily Williams a few days later pulled much of the attention away fro the White Fang, at least for a while. Since he hadn't been seen for a little more than a week, talk of him had already begun to die down.

The walk to the training room was mostly done in silence. Though technically a part of their team, neither Emerald or Mercury cared much for Gray and the feeling was mutual. They put on airs in public, Gray taking on the persona of a hapless teacher and the others acting as though he actually had something to teach them. In truth, Cinder, Neo, Mercury, and Emerald were all exceptional fighters in their own right and were truly a force to be reckoned with when together as a team. Even using his guerrilla tactics, Gray knew he wouldn't be able to beat all four at once.

Cinder, alone was almost terrifying in terms of power. She held much more than what should be possible for anyone but Gray still got the feeling that she wasn't trying in any sparring match he'd seen her any. She hadn't done any in class, as the combat class here was taught by Glenda Goodwitch, who had seen Fought with Cinder previously. Though Goodwitch hadn't seen her face, she had seen her abilities and combat tactics.

"There you are." Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Glenda Goodwitch stood before them with an upset look on her face and both arms crossed in front of her chest. "You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago."

"We're very sorry Ms. Goodwitch," Gray said with a small bow of apology. "I didn't get to sleep until very late last night and ended up over sleeping."

There was a small pause in the conversation as Glynda seemed to inspect him. Gray had taken a glance at himself in the mirror before they'd headed out. He looked awful. His gray hair, which fell just above his shoulders, was thrown back in a sloppily done warrior's tail (which was still difficult to do quickly no matter how much he'd practiced it). His icy blue eyes seemed brighter than usually given how bloodshot they were and he seemed to be very pale. If he hadn't known better, Gray would've assumed he'd managed to get himself sick but this was often how he looked after a nightmare.

Goodwitch sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please make sure it doesn't happen again. We have many other's booked to use this facility as well and we won't hold them back if you're late."

"Of course," Gray replied, "It won't happen again."

"Good. You're other teammates are already inside." With that Goodwitch walked off down the hall. Gray watched her go with the eyes of a cat watching its prey. Glynda Goodwitch was one of Ozpin's closest confidants going by the information Gray had gathered since his time here. She was often at his side and Gray guess it wouldn't be much of a stretch to call her his friend. That made her his enemy. Someone who had be disposed of.

Not now, however. The time wasn't right yet. He needed to observe her a little longer. Something told him that he would only get one attempt on her and if he didn't kill her, she'd kill him. If the stories were true, she was a powerful huntress.

Entering the training room, they found Cinder and Neo sitting on a bench along the wall. Neo was busy fiddling with her scroll, probably texting Roman as she was his partner in crime. Cinder looked to be in deep thought, almost as if she were plotting something. Without looking up, the Raven haired woman said, "You're here. Good. I have something I need you to do Reaper."

Gray raised an eyebrow. Cinder had him assist Roman in a few heists but those requests, if you could call them that, always simply came over text. To ask him in person must mean it was something bigger. "What is it," he asked simply.

Cinder stood and began to pace back and forth with her arms folded across her chest, still not making eye contact. "White Fang recruitment has been slow ever since that idiot Torchwick's display." Cinder either didn't notice or decided to ignore Neo's nasty glare. "We need a way to motivate the Faunus to start joining again without drawing attention to the White Fang." Finally she made eye contact with Gray. "That's where you come in Reaper."

"What exactly are you planning," he asked suspiciously.

"I need you to kill a few Faunus throughout the city and make sure you leave evidence of your apparent hatred of Faunus. Maybe even leave one alive to tell the story."

Gray's face grew stern. "No."

Cinder stopped in her tracks and raised an eyebrow. "No?"

"I don't kill innocent people."

Cinder laughed. It was a cruel and mocking laugh. "Is the killer developing morals on us? Come now. You can't be serious." Gray said nothing in response. He just continued to glare. "By the gods, you ARE serious!" Gray could hear both Emerald and Mercury's muffled snickers. "Do you think that only killing those you deem guilty some how makes you less so?"

"I don't think that at all. In fact I know that what I do isn't right. But I'm looking for vengeance and nothing else. I will only kill those that I need to get my revenge in Ozpin."

Cinder laughed again and walked over to Gray. "These people ARE in your way Gray."

Gray cut her off before she could continue. "No. They're in your way. They aren't blocking my path."

All hints at humor left Cinder's face. "If they're in my way, they're in your's by extension. That was part of our deal, Reaper. You do what I ask, and I help you kill Ozpin." Flames appeared on her right hand. "Unless you want to go back on our agreement." Gray's jaw tightened. He didn't fear death. In fact he hoped to welcome it as soon as his task was done. After, not before. Cinder continued, a sinister smile twisting its way onto her face, "of course, if you still refuse. We could always go see what your sister has to say."

Gray scoffed. "Save your threats. I'll do it."

"Good," Cinder said in mock sweetness. With a small laugh she turned. "Take care of it tonight if you would. Now, should we do a little training?" Gray went and sat in a bench on the other side of the room. Outwardly the only emotion on his face was anger but inside he was filled with fear.

His one rule that he would never kill anyone who didn't stand directly between him and Ozpin. He'd made this rule from the very beginning. Since his very first kill it had been something of an anchor for him. A way to justify each and every kill. A way to keep that part of him, the part that only came out when he was acting as the Angel of Death, in check. And now he was having to throw that out the window.

"So be it," the voice in the back of his mind said. "It has to be done."

"No," he answered silently, "it doesn't. I could break away from them. I could go after Ozpin now. He wouldn't expect it."

He could feel the voice laughing. "We both know you're not enough to take down Ozpin. If even a fraction of the stories are true, he's in a league of his own. You need Cinder's help." Gray hung his head in defeat.

"You're right."

"It's okay, Gray. Just set me free. I'll take care of it! You don't even have to get your hands dirty."

A small smile appeared on Gray's lips. "Really? That sounds nice. But how can you do that? Aren't you me?"

"Shhhhh," the voice cooed. "Leave all of the details to me. You don't have to worry about anything. You just let me handle it."

"I think I'd like that."

The voice gave a warm chuckle. "I thought you would. I've got to go now Gray, but I'll be back when you need me."

"Wait," Gray called worriedly, "how will I call you?!"

"Don't worry," the voice soothed, "I'll know when to come."

Gray giggled to himself. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all! Now he had a way to get rid of Cinder's problem without getting his hands dirty! It was perfect! Everyone wins! Another fit of giggling erupted through his body. Maybe he never needed that rule after all.

 **AN: So I had major writer's block while writing this and to be perfectly honest I've still got it. This chapter really didn't turn out like I wanted it to but this was the one I've been most pleased with out the like 27 different iterations it's gone through. Figured I might as well just stick with this one. I know where I want this story to go it's just I'm still not quite sure how I want to get everyone there. I change ideas on that like every five seconds. Anyways, hope you like this chapter. The next one is going to have some more Team RWBY stuff so look forward to that.**

 **Please review and let me know how I can improve! That's always super appreciated! Also, if you have any suggestions on where to take the story, please feel free to either leave it in the review or PM me if you wanna discuss it at length. Have a good one**


	6. Chapter 5- Death

AN: So I know I said I'd get some Team RWBY in this chapter but as I was writing I noticed that there was kind of a piece missing from what was going on and why. So I decided to go back and write this chapter to give some motivations and such. I hope you like it as much of a downer as it is. Enjoy! Oh yeah, I don't own RWBY.

Chapter 5- Death

"There's no question about it anymore, Ozpin!" General Ironwood slammed his fist down onto Ozpin's desk in frustration. "A mass murderer is on the loose in Vale, White Fang Activity has skyrocketed over the past week, and the people are getting restless. They need to know that we're doing something about this!"

Ozpin sighed, rubbed his forehead and took a drink of coffee. He was exhausted. Between preparation for the Vytal Festival, the day to day activities of being headmaster, and his work to protect the entire population of Remnant from both the Grimm and dark forces unknown to them, this was nothing new. However, with the recent activity of both the White Fang and the Angel of Death he was busier than ever. "I understand your reasoning James, truly I do but I cannot allow the Atlas military into Beacon! It would cause a panic, and we know very well what that would bring."

"I would take a chance with the Grimm. Besides, between my soldiers and you're huntsmen they wouldn't stand a chance. It might even be good for the people to see. They'd know we can protect them." The general scanned Ozpin's face for a second to see any positive response from the White-haired man. Ironwood sighed as Ozpin continued to stare into his mug, swirling his coffee in silence. He sighed and turned to leave.

"Nothing good will come of the display of power, James. I can promise you that." There was no anger in the older man's voice. He spoke as if he was only stating a fact.

James stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to take him to the ground floor. Just before the door closed he replied, "It's a risk we have to take."

 **On the Streets of Vale:**

Everyone on the streets of Vale looked particularly on edge to Sylvia as she and her older brother Gray walked the streets. It was completely warranted however, given what had just transpired the night previous. The brutal murder of 10 Faunus in the streets of Beacon by the Angel of Death was a good reason to be wary.

Sylvia wasn't scared, at least not outwardly. She had to put on a brave face for Gray. Earlier this morning he had called her and said asked if she'd be willing to go with him to their favorite bakery. His voice had been somber, as if he was carrying some great weight. Even now, as they walked, something seemed to be weighing heavily on him. His eyes seemed distant and detached. His ragged appearance showed that he probably hadn't slept the night before and hadn't bothered to shower.

His state worried Sylvia greatly. She hadn't seen him like this since he'd come back four years ago, the only survivor. He'd been in a state similar to this one for months before leaving in the middle of the night and disappearing for two years. Two years that he was reluctant to talk about with anyone.

"Gray," she called quietly as the rounded a corner. He didn't show any outward sign that he heard her. She wasn't sure if he was aware of anything but she had to keep trying. Whatever was on his mind, Sylvia couldn't let him be alone again. "Gray, what's the matter?" Still no response. "Gray, please! You're scaring me!"

After a few more moments of silence he finally answered, "I need to make sure she's safe." Sylvia's eyes widened in realization. The bakery was owned by a rabbit Faunus named Lavender Scarlatina. Sylvia had grown very close to Lavender during her two years in Beacon through her good friend Velvet, Lavender's daughter. When Gray has come to Vale last year, it hadn't taken long for them to hit it off. She'd never pried into his past but had offered a helping hand and even set him up with a place to stay until he could get a steady job.

Lavender was like a second mother to the both of them, of course Gray would be worried. The thought that Lavender might have been hurt now crept into Sylvia's mind. She hadn't thought about it before but the murders had been in the general area of the bakery.

As the neared the street where the bakery was, Gray stopped in his tracks. "Something's wrong," he said urgently.

Sylvia gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? We aren't even-"

Gray cut her off. "There's no smell in air. We're close enough that we should be able to smell it by now." After pausing herself to sniff the air, Sylvia realized he was right. Even still, this wasn't reason enough to assume something bad had happened. Perhaps she'd just decided to not open the bakery today on account of the murders. Maybe she'd left town. There were many possible reason why she wouldn't be there. She did get a chance to tell her brother any of this however as he took of running.

"Gray! Wait," she called after him. He was a lot faster than her. Gray had rounded the corner before Sylvia had made it halfway down the street. There was a loud crash and the sound of splintering wood accompanied by yells from people passing by. Sylvia sped up, fearing her brother had done something drastic. The splintered front door was evidence that she had.

The heavy metallic smell that hung in the air was the first thing that Sylvia noticed as she entered the shop. The second was her brother, standing motionless in the middle of the room. The third, was the body. A scream caught in Sylvia's throat as she instinctively reeled back, tripping over her own feet in the process.

Lavender looked as though she'd been tortured to death. Brushes were evident of her face and arms. Congealed blood still seeped from the large slice across her abdomen. Her right leg was twisted at an awkward angle and her right hand was missing, seemingly blown off. And, perhaps most terrifyingly, Lavender's left ear was missing, probably taken as some sort of sick trophy.

Sylvia wanted to look away. She wanted to leave. She wanted to forget the nightmare in front of her. All she could do was stare in shock.

After what seemed like an eternity, Gray fell to his knees with a loud thud. The sound shook Sylvia out of her stupor. She could see the shaking of Gray's shoulders. He was. . .crying. It was something she'd never seen him do. Sylvia slowly moved to kneel beside Gray and pulled him into a hug.

They sat there for what seemed like hours. Gray cries in his sister's arms and she did her best to be brave for him. She wanted to vomit and run from the scene but he needed an anchor, someone to support him.

Gray suddenly pushed himself from his sisters arms and stood. With his back to her he said, "Sylvia. Leave."

"Gray, I'm not leaving you alone. I'm going to be here this time. You can trust me. Let me help you!" She reached out and grabbed his hand. "Please, Gray," she pleaded.

Gray gently pulled his hand from hers and turned to meet her eyes. In them she could see a storm of emotion. Sadness. Anger. Fear. "That's not what I meant, Sylvia," he said quietly, "leave Beacon. It's not safe here."

Sylvia's eyes widened in surprise at the request. "Leave Beacon? Gray, are you serious?" Her brother nodded slowly. "No! I'm staying. No matter how dangerous it is."

"But-" Gray began to protest but Sylvia cut him off by covering his mouth as she fell into his chest. Tears began to fall from her eyes as he quietly placed his arm around her.

"I know. I know that is dangerous. I know that you're scared for me. But Gray, I knew that there would be risks when I decided to become a huntress. I know that I might get hurt and that I might die. After what happened to you, after seeing how much pain you were in, I knew that I had to protect others from that. And now, after my time at Beacon, I know that I have the power to help people."

They stood for a few moments in silence before Sylvia continued, "I know you're worried about me Gray, but I'm worried about you too. Please don't shut me out. Let me be here to help you."

Sylvia pushed her self off from his chest a bit to look into his eyes. They were back to the way they usually were. Devoid of emotion, like someone had sucked the life from them, leaving only an icy emptiness behind. For a brief moment she thought she saw something dark in them, but it was gone as soon as it came. "Okay," he said quietly, "just, please be careful."

"I will," Sylvia replied, "besides, I'll have you here to protect me." She then pulled out of the hug and firmly grasped his hand. "Come on. We need to go tell someone about Lavender." Gray only nodded and allowed her to lead him out of the door and back onto the streets.

The ride back to Beacon was a quiet one. Both Gray and Sylvia were still reeling from shock. The police had arrived only a few minutes after Gray called them. After a few questions, they'd let both Gray and Sylvia go. They had watched for a few minutes as the police set up the crime scene before heading back to Beacon.

The most painful moment of the ordeal however was when the found Velvet waiting for them in front of Beacon's large statue of a Huntsman standing over the corpse of a slain Grimm. Sylvia had called her on the drive over and asked her to meet them. Leaning against the statue was Velvet's squad leader Coco. Her aviators were pulled up over her eyes, making it hard to get a read on her expression.

Worry was evident on the Rabbit faunus's face. Sylvia knew that both of them looked like they'd been crying and the fallen look on each of their faces. Velvet ran to meet them. "Sylvia, what's wrong," Velvet asked.

Sylvia couldn't hold her tears back. She sobbed as she pulled a Velvet into a tight hug. "Velvet," she cried, "it's. . .it's your mom." Sylvia could feel Velvet stiffen.

"W-What are you talking about," the Faunus asked shakily. Tears began to stream from her eyes. "Is she. . ."

Sylvia hugged Velvet harder and whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Both girls fell to their knees as Velvet wailed in pain. Neither noticed as Gray walked past them, a dark look on his face. He paused for a moment by Coco to say, "Make sure she gets back to her team safe." Coco gave a small nod in response and Gray continued toward the school. A group of students had already started to gather out front but Gray pushed through them, ignoring their annoyed cries and questions.

He ignored their annoyed cries and questions and made his way to his room at a brisk pace. Once inside, he lock his door and fell to his knees. "What have you done," he asked in a pained whisper.

Reaper seemed to appear from a dark corner of the room and crouch in front of Gray. "I think the real question here is what have YOU done?" Reaper laughed, "you made real mess of her! Oh, and the smile on your face while you did it! Quality work!"

"Shut up," Gray spat.

"Or what," Reaper mocked, "You'll kill me? Afraid you can't do that. I AM You after all."

Gray grabbed Sterben and held it to his head. "You are not me," he growled, "You are a monster. Nothing more than a phantom in my head."

Reaper shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you could look at it that way." He paused and the stood to walk over to pick up a small mirror on Gray's desk. "Let me tell you how I see it. You see this mirror? This is you about four years ago. And then. . .," Reaper smashed the mirror against the wall, glass falling all over the floor, "This happened." Reaper gave a small laugh. "Remember that? I do. That when I came to be, though back then I was really small! I still remember all the time we spent confined in facilities because we were in danger of attracting Grimm with all of our. . .how did they put it?"

"Negativity," Gray answered through gritted teeth. He remembered all of the therapy sessions and how he hadn't been allowed to go out in the world for a year because of his high potential for attracting the monstrous Grimm, who were attracted to negative emotions.

"Oh yeah! That's right. I'd say it was a little more than that but I guess they weren't wrong. But slowly, you began to put the pieces back together." The glass on the floor started to slide slowly back together. "However, before that was done. You gave me a name." Reaper stepped on the almost fully reformed mirror with his boot, cracking it down the middle. "Before I was only unfocused rage, but you created the Angel of Death, I gained a purpose. To kill Ozpin. To make him feel what we felt!" He walked back to Gray and held up both cracked mirror halves, "When you created me, we became two halves of the same whole. Neither of us survives without the other."

Gray's grip tightened on Sterben and he pressed it harder against his head. "Then I guess I'll just have to get rid of us."

"And give Ozpin the satisfaction of winning," Reaper asked smugly. Gray's eyes widened and his grip on his gun softened ever so slightly. Reaper laughed, "I thought that might catch your attention." Reaper then threw himself not the bed. "Besides, I think you're blowing this whole ordeal way out of proportion."

Gray's eyes darkened again. "Out of proportion! I. . .I killed her!" Tear began to form in his eyes again. "I killed one of my only friends."

"Awwwwww," Reaper mocked, "don't cry little guy! I have good news! It wasn't our fault!"

Gray look up in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well think about it. Do you remember why we had to go out killing in the first place? To clean up Torchwick's mistakes! If you think about it, it's really his fault. If not for his incompetence we never would've had to do this in the first place."

"Torchwick," Gray whispered, anger dripping from his voice, "It was Torchwick's fault."

Reaper's moth twisted into a sinister smile behind his mask. "So what do propose we do about it?"

Gray stood and turned toward the door. Before he left he answered simply, "We kill Roman Torchwick."

 **AN: And there you have it. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Please feel free to let me know what you thought. Always looking for tips on how I can improve my writing since I know it could use a lot of work. Thank you to everyone who reads this story! Have a wonderful day and look out for the next chapter soon.**


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